HELLO my lovely friends and family! i miss you like crazy! We have been doing some crazy things here in Nicaragua, all in the blistering heat. even the nicas (nicaraguans) say that these days have been the hottest. I shower every day (surprise!) and I STILLLL fell so dirty. We have been meeting with different womens organizations including the Committee for rural women, Xochilt Acatl(the name of a famous indigenous women), and la FEM. The directors have all had different stories and i will highlight two...Maria Espinoza started her work in the SAndinista REvolution and now teaches empowerment courses to poor rural women. We met a few of them and they shared thier stories of endured abuse and how they overcame the stories. The whole time, a random man took a shower in a nearby shower behind some cement...his eyes just peeked out at us from above. actually, it was just a bowl of water he continued to fill and pour on himself.
The other women, Blanca, was abused as a child in a rural home, got a degree in agricultural engineering and gender and now heads the womens movement.
All week a woman named Dona Maria has been on a hunger strike, which lasted 16 days. She is protesting the sudden lack of democracy the Nicas are now enduring under DAniel Ortegas presidency.
Today, we met with women from a coffee cooperative! we sat in the back of pick up trucks and visited thier farms and played with thier kids! i drank an unpurified corn beverage called CHinchi and i might get sick, but it was WORTH it because it tasted like heaven after a long hot day in the rural campo(countryside).
I will add pictures very soon! i love you all and will keep you posted on our adventures!!!!
LOVE MICHELLE
